Toy actuated by means of a springdriven clockwork



March 29, 1938. H, L ER 2,112,408

TOY ACTUATED BY MEANS OF A SPRING-DRIVEN CLOCKWORK Filed March 10, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l H. MULLER March 29,1938.

TOY ACTUATED BY MEANS OF A SPRING-DRIVEN CLOCKWORK Filed March 10, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOB Patented Mar. 29, 1938 UNITED STATES TOY Aoruii'rEn BY MEANS OF A: seams:

DRIVEN CLOCKWORK Heinrich Miiller, Nuremberg, Germany Application March 10, 1937, Serial No; 130,185

In Germany January 25, 1937 '8 Claims. (Cl. 46-210) This invention relates to toys actuated by' means of a. spring-driven clockwork, such as toy-automobiles, toy-airplanes or the like and consists essentially therein that said toy is equippedwith control means inv the form of' a blow-switch of special construction comprising two blow-surfaces to alternately release and lock said clockwork, upon actuation of the one or other blow-surface, thereby starting and stop- 10 ping the toy. p

' By my invention it will be possible to alternately start or stop said toy by alternately blowing a current of air against one or the other blow surface provided on said blow-switch, whereby starting and stopping of the toy may be effected as frequently, as desired within the limits of the driving power of its clockwork. Said blow-switch is suitable, both, in connections with stationary as well as with travelling toys, especially since the blow-switch may be operated or actuated very easily at rest as .well as during travelling motion of the toyt by means of a current of air directed thereagainst, said current of air being either produced by actual blowing or merely by speaking against said blowswitch, thus permitting the aforesaid control of the toy without in the least touching the same.

Blow-switches having ablow-surface or membrane acted upon at one side thereof are known as such and especially in connection with the stopping of alarm-clocks and also in connection with stationary toys for releasing a spring serving to operate such toys. Blow-switches of the known kind, however, have heretofore been contoy and subsequent to this operatlon'had to be re-adjusted by hand into their initial position. According to my present invention the' b lowswitch is equipped with two blow-surfaces, one 40 acting to release and the other to stop the clock control, may be used for starting the vehicle from condition of rest or for stoppingthe vehicle, when travelling.

50 In. the accompanying drawings 1 have'shown three examples of construction of a toy con- 'gtrolled. by my novel blow-switch, Figs. 1 and 2 being a side-view and plan, respectively, of a. toy-automobile comprising a rotatable blow- 55 switch or the aforementioned kind, Fig.3 a side structed to perform but a single operation of the view and Fig. 4 a front-view of a toy-airplane comprising a swingable blow-switch, the two blow-surfaces thereof being formed by the wings of said toy-airplane, and Fig. 5 a'slde-view,'partly in section, of a toy-automobile comprising a blow-switch with two blow-surfaces provided on the casing of the toy-automobile for which purpose said casing is mounted swingable on its base-plate.

The construction of the toy-'automobileshown '10 in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises a spring-driven clock-' work I mounted in the casing I of the toy-automobile, 9. bearing member 2 in the form of a flap bent out of one of the side-plates of the clockwork, said flap being positioned above the 15 rotating cam 3 mounted on an axle of said, clockwork. Said cam 3 is preferably mounted on the last driven axle of the clockwork and consequently rotate'sat high speed. In the bearing or flap 2 there is mounted a swingable shaft 4, a double 20 end II will enter either into or out of the ed in bearings 9, the swinging motion of said 40 wings being limited by stopsi. Said shaft in the bearings 9 is connected wit a lockingarm 4 provided, as shown in Fig. 4,

with an inwardly directed detent or nose to cooperate with the eccentrical cam 3, the latter being mounted in the present caseon the propeller-shaft 8 forming part of the clockwork I.

'I'he'arrangement in this case is such that the cam 3 and therewith the clockwork may freely rotate if the win s 5 constituting the blowswitch are positioned in their one end-position shown in'full lines in Fig. 4, 4

In order to secure said wings in this position, the left-hand part of said wing maybe provided at its end with a small additional weight I of the raised part of the wings.

latter will be swung into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, thus swinging the locking arm 4' towards the left as likewise shownin dotted lines in Fig. 4. In this position of the locking arm 4' thedetent at the end thereof will enter into the path of rotation of p the cam 3 with the effect that the clockwork is now locked.

The pressure exerted by the cam 3 during rotation onto the detent at the end of the locking arm '4' is sufficient to prevent unlocking of the clockwork in spite of the small surplus weight ing against said raised part of the wings said current so that the toy again comes under driving action of its clockwork.

The toy-airplane shown in Figs. 3 and 4 may either be suspended from a cord to gyrate in suspended condition or arranged for travel on a surface by action of a propeller or by means of .wheels driven by the clockwork. In the latter case the toy-airplane may be provided at the rear thereof with an additional supporting wheel. In the one as well as in the other case, however, control of the toy may be efiected by blowing against the one or other half of the pivotally mounted wings that constitute an actual part of the toy-airplane,

thus dispensing with any additional blow-switch.

The same construction and mode of control may be used also in case of vehicles travelling on the ground, such as for instance toy-automobiles, as represented in Fig. 5. According'to Fig. the toy consists of a toy-automobile comprising a base-plate provided with running-wheels, and a spring-driven clockwork I mounted onsaid base-plate. The lateral walls ofsaid clockwork extend each into an upwardly directed bearing flap 2 above the rotating cam 3, while the easing I of'the toy-automobile is pivotally mounted in eyes 9 of said bearing flaps 2 to permitrocking of said casing about said eyes. To the casing 1' there is connected near its support at 9 a locking arm 4 having an inwardly directed detent adapted to engage or disengage said cam 3 in accordance with the rocking motion of said casing. In condition of the toy as'shown in Fig. 5 said nose or detent on the locking arml' is in position outside of the path of rotation of said cam 3, thus disengaging the latter, this being due to the fact that the casing had been rocked downward at the rear part thereof.

If now the blow-switch represented bythe casing is actuated therewith initiating a downward rocking of said casing at its front part, the nose.

or detent on the locking arm 4. 'will move into the path of rotation of said cam 3, thus engaging the latter and locking the clockwork. Rocking motion of the casing is limited in upward and downward direction by stops 6 on said casing which stops may, for instance, abut againstthe base-plate.

Especially in case of small toys which naturally are equipped with but small blow-surfaces the cam 3, which is controlled to stop the clockwork and may, for instance, also form the governor for the latter, acts necessarily with a very slight contact pressure against the locking member, such as the shaft 4 or locking arm 4', so that a slight On the other hand, the clockwork may now be released by blowblowing against the blow-surface will be sufllcient to actuate the blow-switch and eflect the desired control. This slight contact'pressure may easily be attained, especially with small toys, by rotating the cam 3 at high speed, which is easily pos- *sible by mounting the same on the last axle of the clockwork. A construction of this kind evidently does not constitute a departure from the principles of my invention nor from the forms of construction described hereinabove and shown in the drawings.

I claim:

1. A toy consisting of a moving figure, comprising a prime mover within the toy body, means for controlling the action of said prime mover, a blow-switch for controlling the action of said means, said blow switch being fulcrurned at a point causing it to be sensitive to a small force and having two blow surfaces, one for releasing and the other for locking said prime mover through the action of said control means, whereby the application of a small force to one of said surfaces will release said prime mover, andto the other of said surfaces will lock said prime mover.

2. A toy consisting of a moving figure, comprising a prime mover within the toy body, a rotating cam driven by said prime mover, a rotatably mounted blow-switch'in the form of a wind plate, presenting two blow surfaces, stops for limiting rotation thereof, and means operatively connected to said blow-switch and movable into and out switch in the form of a wind-plate presenting two. blow surfaces, said wind-plate being mounted on a rotatable shaft, stops for limiting rotation thereof, said shaft having a bent end adapted to be engaged with and disengaged from said rotating cam for locking and releasing said prime mover.

4. A toy consisting of a moving figure, comprising a prime mover within the toy body, a rotating cam driven by said prime mover, a blow-switch having two bl'ow surfaces, fulcrumed at a point causing it to be sensitive to a small force applied to either of said surfaces, a locking arm connected to said blow-switch and adapted to be moved into or out of the path of rotation of said cam upon actuation of the respective blow surface, to lock and release said prime mover, respectively.

5. A toy as claimed in claim 1 wherein said releasing blow surface is weighted to overbalance said locking blow surface.

6. A toy as claimed in claiml wherein said toy is in the form of a toy airplane, each of the blow surfaces of said blow-switch being formed by a wing of said toy, said wings'being mounted for rocking motion on the body of said toy.

7. A toy'consisting of a moving figure in the form of a, toy automobile, comprising a prime mover in the toy body, means for controlling the action of said prime mover, a blow-switch for controlling the action of said means, said blowswitch being formed by the upper part ofthe casing of said toy, fulcrumed' at a point causing it to be sensitive to a small force, and having two blow surfaces, one for releasing and the other for locking said prime mover through the action of said control. means. I

8. A toy consisting of a moving figure, comprising a clockwork within the toy body, a cam mounted on the last driven axle of said clockwork to be rotated thereby at high speed, a locking and releasing member; a blow-switch for controlling the action of said member, said blow-switch being fulcrumed at a, point causing it to be sensitive to a small force, and having two blow surfaces, whereby the application of a small force toone of said blow surfaces will move said member into the path of rotation of said cam to lock said clockwork, and the application of a. small force to the other of said blow surfaces will move said member out of the path of said cam to release said 5 clockwork.

HEINRICH MULLER. 

